Ashford, Surrey

Ashford is a town almost wholly in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, with a small area contained within the boundaries of the London Borough of Hounslow, approximately 14 mi (23 km) west-southwest of central London.[n 1] Its name derives from a crossing point of the River Ash, a distributary of the River Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town's wards have been part of Surrey County Council since 1965.[2] Ashford consists of relatively low density low- and medium-rise buildings, none of them being high rise. If excluding apartments (at the last census 27% of the housing stock) most houses are semi-detached.

For other places with the same name, see Ashford.

Ashford

St Matthew's C of E parish church

Matthew Church Road
Ashford
Location within Surrey
Area6.71 km2 (2.59 sq mi)
Population27,382 (2011 census)[1]
• Density4,081/km2 (10,570/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTQ065715
Civil parish
  • n/a
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townASHFORD
Postcode districtTW15
Dialling code01784
PoliceSurrey
FireSurrey
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament

Ashford railway station, on the Waterloo to Reading Line, is served by South Western Railway. Heathrow Airport is 2.5 mi (4 km) north of the town.

A leading gymnastics club, HMP Bronzefield and one of the sites of Brooklands College are in the town. Ashford Hospital, which began as a workhouse, is to the north of the town centre. Ashford Common has a parade of shops and is a more residential ward that includes part of Queen Mary Reservoir and all of its related water treatment works. The town is surrounded by some areas of green space including The Princes Club, Bedfont Lakes and Shortwood Common.

Topography
Part of Ashford Park

Ashford is in the almost flat alluvial plain formed by the historic courses of the River Thames[3] on fairly fertile but gravelly soil[4] in centuries past covered by deciduous forest for wood gathering, with clearings of meadow for pasture and to a lesser extent arable farming to supply the London market; sheep grazing continues today around the reservoirs. In common with western fringes of Greater London, gravel commences often within a metre of the surface which has led to 20th-century gravel extraction,[3][n 2] which has formed the lakes to the north of the railway line. The extreme west is Shortwood Common, partly converted to a recreation ground, Ashford Park School, a cemetery.

North of this is the pair of Staines Reservoirs, the other green buffer is The Princes Club, Bedfont Lakes, spanning the northeast border; these areas constitute Metropolitan Green Belt buffers to the country's largest city. The area includes postally much of Queen Mary Reservoir (which covered most of the parish to the south of Littleton and almost none of historic Ashford) named after the wife of George V, Mary of Teck.

Most of the land is devoted to suburban and low-rise urban housing[5] – as well as recreational areas, green belt in part of the Bedfont/Feltham fringe exists in the form of meadows used for walking, horse grazing and equestrianism around Feltham Young Offenders' Institution. A few parks such as the Ashford Reservoirs or Spelthorne Park are remnants of Ashford Common which give the eastern part of the town a reminder of its past status as a grazing common; these include recreation grounds such as Thames Water-sponsored Spelthorne Sports Club and the BP recreation ground.[6]

In The Clumps, 37 houses in the Ashford post town, which has the postcode TW15, are in the London Borough of Hounslow, Greater London, alongside the Princes Club watersports lakes partly in Ashford post town but mostly in East Bedfont, Feltham post town, London. The other road with this status is the western half of Challenge Road, which has only business addresses.[7][8]

History

Bronze Age artefacts have been found in Ashford (at 51.432708N, 0.485174W) giving rise to the name Bronzefield and a henge may have been present in that period.[9] The settlement as indicated by its name but small assets just after the Norman Conquest was part agricultural settlement in Saxon times.

Ashford appears on the Middlesex Domesday map as Exeforde, held by Robert, Count of Mortain. Its Domesday assets were: 1 plough, meadow for 1 plough; a separate manor in 1066, it was part of the manor of Kempton in 1086. It rendered (in total) 14s 0d.[10] Throughout the early medieval period the place was also referred to as Echelford.[11]

A stone bridge was built over the ford in 1789 by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust, part of which is used as the rather scenic Fordbridge roundabout with its large weeping willow trees at the centre.[11]

Ashford Common was a large area of common land in the south and east of the town that the British Army used for military displays in the reign of George III. It was inclosed in 1809.[11]

Ashford Manor Golf Club was established in 1902 at the property which was the Manor Farm House[12] but the large manorial estate and manor house that were held by Solomon Abraham Hart from 1870 to 1882[n 3] had before 1902 been broken up among many small owners, and all trace of the manor house was lost.[11][n 4]However the title of Lord of the Manor was acquired by Scott Freeman in 1890,[13] and after passing to another partner of the solicitors Horne, Engall Freeman the title passed in more recent times to Russell Grant.[14]

Ashford's housing stock is modern, with chiefly a mixture of detached and semi-detached housing built between 1885 and 1960.[n 5]

The Welsh School when new in 1857

Former schools

The Welsh School (later St David's School) was founded in 1857. Its building north of Ashford railway station is Gothic Revival, designed by Henry Clutton.[15] St David's School is now defunct, but in 2010 its buildings and playing fields were the premises of St James Senior Boys School.[16]

The former Ashford County Grammar School after Inland Homes plc tried to demolish it

Ashford County Grammar School was founded in 1911. It became Ashford Sixth Form College in 1975 and Spelthorne College later. In 2007 it merged with Brooklands College. A property developer, Inland Homes plc, has since acquired the former grammar school buildings in Church Road. In 2017 it started to demolish the buildings without planning permission. The developer stopped the work at the request of Spelthorne Borough Council after demolition had started,[17] but later continued the demolition, having received planning permission to build 357 new homes on the site.[18]

Civic administration

In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Ashford became part of the Staines Rural District of Middlesex.[19] In 1930 the rural district was abolished and joined Staines Urban District. In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, Middlesex County Council was abolished and the urban district was transferred to Surrey.[20] In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Staines Urban District was abolished and its area combined with that of Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District to create the present borough of Spelthorne.

Churches
St Hilda's Church of England parish church

The present Church of England parish church of St Matthew in Church Road[21] was built in 1856–58 with financial help from the Welsh School. It was sited some yards west of Ashford's earlier parish church of St Michael, parts of which were Norman. St Michael's was demolished, but internal monuments and a 12th-century arch from it were incorporated into St Matthew's. William Butterfield designed St Matthew's in a Gothic Revival style. The tower was not completed until 1865.[22]

St Hilda's parish church at the junction of Stanwell and Woodthorpe Roads was founded as a daughter church of St Matthew's to serve the rapidly expanding community around the railway station. Construction started in 1912 and most of the church was built in the first few years, but the chancel and some other parts were not completed until 1928.[23] St Hilda's original design included a spire that would have been one of the most significant landmarks in the area, but it was never built. St Hilda's was initially a conventual district of St Matthew's parish, but is now a separate ecclesiastical parish.[24] The easternmost parts of Ashford Common are in the parish of St Saviour's, Sunbury.

St Michael's Roman Catholic church

The Roman Catholic Church of St Michael in Fordbridge Road was begun in 1927 and the uncompleted building was consecrated in 1928.[25] It was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in a Romanesque Revival style. Building continued in 1938, but the tower was not completed until 1960.[26]

Ashford has two Methodist churches: one on Clarendon Road[27] and the other in Ashford Common on Feltham hill Road.[28]

There is a Congregational church in Clarendon Road.[29]

The Salvation Army has a citadel in Woodthorpe Road.[30]

Economy

The main street, Church Road, has local businesses, including Co-op, Tesco Express, Costa Coffee, Sainsbury's, three funeral directors, and several places to eat. Church Road is also home to the Ashford campus of Brooklands College (formerly Spelthorne College), Ashford Library and a prominent World War I memorial.[31]

Ashford, in common with most of London suburbia, has very low unemployment rates. A great deal of local employment is directly related to Heathrow Airport. BP International is another major employer. Many other residents work in London or in the Thames Valley. Main dealers of Ford, Citroën and Suzuki are along the town's outlying dual carriageway roads.

Transport
Ashford railway station

Railway

Ashford is on the Waterloo to Reading Line, with South Western Railway stopping services from London Waterloo on two of its three routes, those to Windsor & Eton Riverside and to Weybridge on the South Western Main Line via the Chertsey Line. These two routes split after Staines. The third route forms the second main line run by the company, with quicker trains available from the next stations east and west. The station is referred to in timetables as either Ashford (Surrey) or Ashford (Middlesex), in order to avoid confusion with Ashford International station in Kent.[32]

Roads

Not far north of the station is the A30 dual carriageway, which marks much of Ashford's northern border. It follows the old route from London to Devon and Cornwall. The alignment of this road is WSW–ENE.

A straight relief road, roughly WNW–ESE, was built by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust. Now the A308, it has become a dual carriageway from Sunbury Cross to the junction with the A30 at Staines. This road marks some of the town's southern border. Ashford is close to the M25, M3 and A3 roads.

Buses

The town is on Hallmark Connections route 555 from Heathrow Airport to Walton-on-Thames, on three Transport for London routes, the 117, 216 and 290, also serving Isleworth, Kingston upon Thames and Twickenham respectively, and more occasional routes, including special school services run other operators.[33]

Education

Primary schools
(above in order of best combined England and Maths benchmark score 2011 primary schools)[35][36]
  • Ashford Infants School
  • Spelthorne Infant and Nursery School
  • Clarendon primary school and children centre

Secondary schools

In addition, three secondary schools were established in Sunbury-on-Thames, including the borough's religiously denominated senior schools, The Bishop Wand Church of England School and St Paul's Catholic College.

Further education

Ashford's further education college, Spelthorne College, became a Brooklands College Campus in 2007. It serves 16 to 18 year olds from a wide area of Surrey.

Sport
Ashford Park – part of fields and Football court

Active sports clubs in Ashford competitive at many levels are: Ashford Town F.C., Ashford Casuals F.C. and Ashford Cricket Club. Clubs exist for hockey, tennis, table Tennis, aikido, karate, golf and bowls, with leading clubs in acrobatic gymnastics and sailing which offer professional coaching from Olympic-level coaches.

Ashford Manor Golf Club is described above, a golf course that has 18 holes; one other is in the borough, Sunbury Golf Course in Charlton. In 1921, the golf course was the site of the murder of British spy Vincent Fovargue by the IRA.

Spelthorne Atoms (previously known as Ashford Atoms) are one of the best youth basketball teams in the country having been to the national finals on a number of occasions.

Spelthorne Gymnastics club is one of the World's premier clubs for acrobatic gymnastics, having won eight World championship gold medals.

Watercourses

Ashford has one river, the River Ash, one of the six distributaries of the River Colne which runs in line with the Staines bypass under the Fordbridge roundabout at the far end of Fordbridge Road, its upper reach being the traditional border with Staines and then entering Laleham, passing close to the other side of the Queen Mary Reservoir.

The Staines Reservoirs Aqueduct (built 1902) flows from west to east across Ashford. It carries water from the Staines Reservoirs and King George VI Reservoir to Hampton water treatment works via Sunbury and Kempton Park.

Government

Ashford is part of the Spelthorne parliamentary constituency which has been represented by the Conservative Kwasi Kwarteng since 2010.[38]

In Surrey County Council, 4 of the 81 councillors are elected by Ashford in whole or in part:[39] Ashford is represented by a Conservative councillor, as is Staines South and Ashford West; Sunbury Common and Ashford Common is also represented by a Conservative councillor, and part of north Ashford is in the division of Stanwell and Stanwell Moor, represented by Robert Evans, a Labour Councillor.[40]

Ashford has 12 representatives on Spelthorne Borough Council, headquartered in Staines-upon-Thames. The details below are for the 2011 election:

 Member[41]WardCurrent party (if changed)
Marion BushnellAshford CommonSpelthorne Independent Party[42]
Nick GethingAshford Common
Frank AyersAshford CommonSpelthorne Independent Party
Asif AyubAshford East
Chris FrazerAshford East
Tony MitchellAshford East
Marian RoughAshford North and Stanwell South
Joanne SextonAshford North and Stanwell South
Sam BuddAshford North and Stanwell SouthSpelthorne Independent Party
Gerald ForsbreyAshford TownSpelthorne Independent Party
Denise GrantAshford TownSpelthorne Independent Party
Caroline Spencer (Independent)Ashford TownSpelthorne Independent Party

Demography and housing
2011 Census Homes
Output areaDetachedSemi-detachedTerracedFlats and apartmentsCaravans/temporary/mobile homesShared between households[1]
Spelthorne 3,5 and 62,3884,3801,6722,61870

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

Output areaPopulationHouseholds% Owned outright% Owned with a loanhectares[1]
Spelthorne 3, 5 and 627,38211,06529.0%33.9%671

The proportion of households in the settlement who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Notable people
Grave in St Matthew's parish churchyard of James Hawksford (1832–1904), who served 53 years in the British Army. The inscription on his headstone says he was in the Rifle Brigade, served in the Crimean War, and later transferred to the Yeomen of the Guard.

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Two side roads in Ashford post town (Challenge Road and The Clumps) are in the London Borough of Hounslow. See Google maps: 'TW15', Royal Mail Postcode Finder free service, Spelthorne Borough Council maps, cited below.
  2. Page wrote in 1911: There are 1,401½ acres in the parish, and of these 495¼ acres are arable, and 398¼ acres are grass. The principal crops are oats, wheat, barley, turnips, and peas. The soil is gravelly, and the subsoil gravel.
  3. who died in 1887 aged in the Holborn district of London (General Register Office ref: 1b 538)
  4. See the source book, where in 1911, the name of the club was at that point the Ashford Manor Farm Golf Club
  5. William Page stated
    The aspect of the whole parish is rapidly changing. Until a few years ago it was almost completely rural
    in Page, William, ed. (1911). "Spelthorne Hundred: Ashford". A History of the County of Middlesex. Victoria County History. II. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 306–309.

References

  1. Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density Archived 11 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Ashford makes up 2011 lower output areas Spelthorne 003, 005 and 006. Note: the towns and villages in Spelthorne have one ward each which covers part of a neighbouring town or village. For example, Ashford is two wards and part of a third ward (see Government). Retrieved 21 November 2013
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Surrey Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Natural England. Retrieved 12 October 2012
  4. "Soilscapes". Cranfield University. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  5. 2001 Census: density and land use statistics Archived 11 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Spelthorne maps, see in Planning section: Maps: Green Belt". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  7. "Google map of TW15 versus Greater London boundary". Archived from the original on 13 October 2001. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  8. "Postcode Finder – Find an Address". Royal Mail. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  9. "Ashford Henge details from history website". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2005.
  10. Surrey Domesday Book Archived 30 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Page, William, ed. (1911). "Spelthorne Hundred: Ashford". A History of the County of Middlesex. Victoria County History. II. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 306–309. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  12. "Golf Club website, as the New Manor Golf Club Ashford Company". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  13. "Archives in London and the M25 area". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  14. "Press article on Suffolk manors cites Russell Grant's ownership of the [[incorporeal hereditament]], though not its land". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  15. Historic England. "Welsh School  (Grade II) (1204676)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. "Ashford Move 2010 – Press Release". St James independent school. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  17. Eyres, Zosia (21 February 2017). "Brooklands College demolition: Developer starts demolishing building despite letter insisting it 'stops work immediately'". Surrey Herald. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  18. Eyres, Zosia. "Brooklands College demolition: Controversial housing plan approved after developer cuts proposed number of new homes... by nine". Surrey Live. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  19. Vision of Britain – Staines Rural District Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Vision of Britain – Staines Urban District Archived 23 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  21. Archbishops' Council. "St Matthew Ashford, Ashford". A Church Near You. Church of England. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  22. Historic England. "Parish church of St Matthew  (Grade II) (1187026)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  23. Historic England. "Church of St Hilda  (Grade II) (1187067)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  24. Archbishops' Council. "St Hilda Ashford, Ashford". A Church Near You. Church of England. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  25. "Ashford". Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  26. Historic England. "Roman Catholic Church of St Michael, including boundary wall and entrance screen  (Grade II) (1428691)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  27. Ashford Methodist Church
  28. Ashford Common Methodist Church Archived 5 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  29. "Ashford Congregational Church". Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  30. "Staines". The Salvation Army. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
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  33. "Bus Timetables". Surrey County Council. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  34. "Department of Education performance of this school". Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  35. "BBC 2011 summary of schools in Surrey". Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  36. "Department for Education performance of this school". Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  37. "Thomas Knyvett College". Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
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  41. "Borough Councillors by ward 2011–2015". Spelthorne Borough Council. 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  42. Councillors by Party – Spelthorne Independent Party Retrieved 2 June 2013
  43. "Nicholas Bond-Owen". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  44. "Robber jailed for 'terrifying' Barclays bank siege". Surrey Advertiser. Trinity Mirror. 26 November 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  45. "Spelbound win Britain's Got Talent final". Surrey Herald. Trinity Mirror. 7 June 2010. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010.
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